Brand + Journalist = building relations of trust + transparency

Brand journalism is about building relations of trust and transparency between brands and consumers

Brand journalism is the new buzzword. You may be asking “Brand and journalism? One as nothing to do with the other…”. Technically you right. Brand management is about connecting brands and customers and journalism is about news. They both are different, right? So, how can they work together in content marketing?

The Internet has changed your way to see the world and how we built relations. Brands and consumers are not an exception, especially with social media phenomenon. Consumers have, now, more access to information, ask for references to their friends through social media. Basically, they are picky about services and products’ quality and and advertising are not enough to convince them that they should choose one brand over its competitors.

The challenge is, then, to build trust in branded communication. We need to create real impact and benefits to your audience. For that, we need to find new tools, create new processes and replace some filters to make sure that we send the right message that is worthy of their trust. Brand journalism can do it. How? Building relations of trust.

Transparency and trust: the new keywords

The main goal of brands is to gain top-of-mind and that means a lot of work. Nothing is easy! And why it should? There’s no fun otherwise, right?! Basically, brands need to have the ability to tell their stories and engage with people. Consumers gain then transparency, accountability and human interaction from their brands.

Brand journalism gathers all these things. It gives the opportunity to brands sending out messages that are worthy of their audiences trust. That is, brands became more transparent, open and honest by giving access to information that otherwise consumer would not have through them. Susan Chang gives three good examples of brand journalism by Cisco, Boeing and HSBC. They all tell good stories about the industry they operate without directly “selling” themselves.

You might be thinking: “to write a story I need to think like a journalist”. Now you got the picture. Get a pen and a notebook and start thinking what would you like to write about your brand. Do not forget to have always in mind the goal of building trust with your audience.

Next post I will give you some clues how to use journalism techniques in brand journalism. Stay in touch!!